Random encounters can choose to not be encountered, apparently.
Cast[]
- Roy Greenhilt ◀ ▶
- Elan ◀ ▶
- Miko Miyazaki ◀ ▶
- Windstriker ◀ ▶
- Silver ◀ ▶
- Elan's Horse ◀ ▶
- The Flumphs ◀ ▶
- Displacer Beasts
- Dave
- Joe
Transcript[]
- Panel 1
Dave: Great. Just fantastic.
Joe: Not this again...
Dave: "Hey Dave", you said, "Let's go to the plains. We'll be the only ones there!["]
- Panel 2
Dave: Yeah, well, you were right! We ARE the only ones here, which is awfully inconvenient if you're a carnivore! I keep wanting to eat my own displaced image.
- Panel 3
Dave: I mean, they list our preferred Environment in the book for a reason, Joe.
Joe: Look, I'll allow that it hasn't turned out quite as I imagined, but we should try to make the best of it.
- Panel 4
Dave: "Make the best of it"? I don't think—
Joe: I'm over here now.
- Panel 5
Dave: Y'know, just once in my life, I'd like to have a simple conversation without the other guy actually being someplace else. I'm amazed our species can figure out how to mate...
- Panel 6
Joe: Hey! Check it out! Some nice juicy horses, with a few humans for dessert!
Dave: Oh crap! Joe, those are adventurers!!
- Panel 7
Joe: Yeah? And? They still taste good.
Dave: Don't you see?? We're a random encounter!!
- Panel 8
Joe: Oh come on. We are not. We have a perfectly good explanation for why we're here and why we might choose to attack them.
Dave: Maybe, but they won't ever know what that reason is.
- Panel 9
Dave: We're just a monster placed in the wrong habitat to them. They'll kill us, and then just continue on with whatever lame, drawn-out plot they're following.
- Panel 10
Dave (whispering): Just stay down! They don't get any XP for us if they don't encounter us at all.
- Panel 11
Joe: Wonderful. There goes the only food that we've seen for days. Weeks!
Dave: The risk wasn't worth it. Besides, I'm sure something will turn up.
Flumph (to Dave's displaced image): Excuse me, kind sir, we were wondering if we could trouble you for directions?
D&D Context[]
- The creatures in the strip are Displacer Beasts, a rather well-known monster that resembles a panther with two spiked tentacles on its shoulders. They have a constant Displacement effect on them, making them to appear slightly displaced from where they actually are.
- The Monster Manual goes into detail about the ecology of many of the monsters. The preferred environment for Displaceer Beasts is temperate hills and mountains.
- Random Encounters happen when the party is traveling, and are generated by rolling tables or by computer generators.
Trivia[]
- This is the only appearance of the displacer beasts, Dave and Joe.
- There is a grammatical error in the first panel. The second speech mark is missing.